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Greyashe chapter 349

Page history last edited by Sakaki 9 years, 4 months ago

 

 

 

Greyashe chapter 349 is entitled 'A series of unfortunate events II.'

 

Previous chapter 348: A series of unfortunate events.

Next chapter 350: A series of unfortunate events III.

Summary page

 

-Short summary-

 

Acceleration of the recall and the chaos it causes continue to grip the land, the people and to Butcher's delight, suffering.

 

-Long summary-

 

Frieda recalls how she had ended up in her current situation. For some time she had been hiding out at the school --GMAGY despite there not really being a reason to. She has to admit that after being expelled from her farseeing clan due to her interest in a heretical book of darkness, that she had missed having comrades --which she had found at the school with Cayden and the group. The very same book had caused her to become possessed and nearly killed she and Van who had come to save her, but thanks to Kani utilizing a magic known as 'Detox', she had managed to survive, but not with out some unfortunate side effects. That is, her default emotion becoming 'happiness'. If she doesn't take a suppressant provided to her by Damien, no matter how she actually feels, to anyone else she looks to be a cheerful young lady. Despite this she still made good friends with the group and stayed at the school even after her fellow farseer Azha had gone to become kaiser mage. After the recall happened, she did entertain thoughts of leaving since being torn asunder by insane magicians doesn't appeal to her, but as it normally goes with the human condition it always feels like bad things happen to other people. There's no way that she'd end up being attacked by her new friends right? Something would happen and they'd all be saved. Although Frieda is mature beyond her thirteen years of age, she still has an overly optimistic view of the world.

 

That changed however when she woke up from a nap and approached the door to her room. Instead of opening it, her hand hangs in mid air and she stares forward as if she's expecting someone to open the door for her. ---In fact that's exactly what she expects, but rather than it being a matter to relieved about (not having to expend extra effort), she's instead terrified. Her eyes are telling her that what waits beyond that door is terror, plain and simple. She starts to move backward from the door and hides under the desk, just as someone starts to pound on the door. Frieda's mind starts to work, connecting the headache that had sent her to the room to take a nap with the current events. What if her eyes were trying to tell her something that she misinterpreted as something else? The growing sense of terror then....what is it? What is happening beyond the door leading to the school? Could she even begin to fathom it? Suddenly she can feel herself being gripped by another emotion --yearning. To confirm that her friends are safe, to ensure that she is not alone. However, with her ability as a farseer, all she can do is to sense trouble --and not to solve it. For that she would need help, but from who? From where? For the first time in her life, Frieda Shen actually knows what it is to need and most importantly want help from someone else. Without regret she then calls out for someone to help her. Desperately, helplessly.....

 

Of course she wasn't expecting to get a response so quickly, when a girl with wings bursts through the window and asks if she's all right. Of course she's not sure whether to trust this intruder at first, but her eyes tell her that this is one of Van's friends, and as she knows Van can be trusted she will trust this person. The door to the room opens and students shamble in with vacant looks in their eyes. Frieda now fully assessed on the winged girl's background asks 'Claire' what they should do? Claire glances back at her and commands her to keep her distance and stay behind her. They'll back out of the room and she'll fly them to safety. Frieda gives her a quick glance and asks if that's possible? They're about the same height, and Frieda's pretty petite as is. Claire shoots her a grin and replies that she's confident in her upper body strength. The magician students suddenly adjust their speed from 'lumber' to 'dash' and before Claire can react she is nearly blasted to bits by a ray of light. The angel balks at this and realizes that by accelerating the recall, Butcher had inadvertently (or on purpose, knowing his cruel and twisted nature) mutated 'magic' that at one time couldn't do more than create the four elements. All magic stems from them --Water, Air, Earth and Fire, even if their applications seem to imply something else entirely. Could it be that introducing an outside impetus like the recall had caused them to grow new forms and applications? If so this situation just got a whole new universe of really bad. They'd have to leave immediately as the only advantage they had --knowing what their enemies can use against them, is now gone.

 

Claire grabs Frieda's hand and turns to the window, but before she can escape, the wall is frozen solid by a gale wind of frost, and now is impenetrable. The angel grimaces, and turns to the students where she sees a familiar face. Of all the people to be here (although since he is a student at this school, it really isn't strange that he is here), at a time like this....

 

Cayden the ice magic user stands with the students his arm outstretched after using his ice magic --a rare relative of both the air and water schools of magic usage. The fact that ice is so rare only made it more obvious that it could only be him. Frieda's face doesn't hide the despair of one of her best friends now entertaining thoughts of being her first executioner, but Claire is more concerned of finding a means of escape. She sees that Cayden is behind the other students and that they are employing a pincer attack to keep them from leaving. To the sides are students and before them is Cayden, and behind them is a impenetrable frozen wall. The initial idea of going through this window is bust, but their advantage is that they can escape from any place that Claire can use her speed to get through. If she were on her own, she'd entertain going through the roof, but there wouldn't be much use of going up that way if Frieda would be injured. So the next best thing is to escape this room and find another way out, which leads to the second issue...how can she get out of this group of people without harming them? It's obvious Butcher had come up with this method of attacking his enemies because he knows they will hesitate to harm those who are simply innocent bystanders in this war between deities. As the students begin to close in on the two girls, Claire's mind races until she decides to try a desperate gambit. After all there's not much else they've got to lose other than their lives in this situation right?

 

She turns to Cayden and bellows at him, asking how long he's going to let something insubstantial as magic control him? She then adds 'snowflake' to the end of her tirade which causes the controlled student to stop for just a split second, which is just enough time for Claire to grab the farseeing girl quaking behind her and dash past Cayden and out of the room.

 

To her surprise the hallway is devoid of people and completely silent. Wasting no time, Claire turns to Frieda and asks where the nearest exit is. Frieda points down their left and says there should be a bay window they can go through if she's thinking of going out another window. If not a exit leading out into the garden is a floor below them if they follow the left hallway route. Claire thanks her and tries to sooth the girl's broken psyche. She knows for sure that her leader is working on something to stop this from happening, and to ensure that no one else will be hurt. They'll get her friends back to normal and stop Butcher once and for all. Frieda shakes her head and requests that the angel stop trying to placate her. While it's not like Claire is lying to her about stopping them --the sentients, she is more than aware that it's not as easy as she makes it sound. To stop them, to put an end to the people's suffering would require curbing magic as a whole. Could anyone actually do something like that? Claire is silent and shakes her head that she isn't sure. For now they should take things one step at a time and find a means of escaping. After that they can figure out how to stop Butcher and his plans.

 

The two head down the hallway as Frieda said. Claire can hear the rustling of people moving above them and quickens her pace. The last thing they want to do is to be caught unaware by their pursuers. They have to escape immediately before they're found or Claire will have to fight her way out --not something that is desirable with someone in tow. Suddenly the angel has a thought that sends a shiver down her spine....what if they're expecting them to run towards the exit? It's not like it's location is unknown to the students, and the amount of organization they had shown when cornering the two had been surprising to say the least. Up until now Butcher had been keeping his hands out of things --simply inputting the order to 'kill' in the magician's minds using the recall and his own powers of suggestion, but now that the recall had accelerated to this point maybe he's able to become much more explicit in his commands. As in creating dregs who are smart enough to enact plans in their continued efforts to slaughter. If that's the case then...

 

Claire turns to Frieda who despite still having a slightly cheery expression manages to encapsulate fear in her eyes. The angel looks forward and sees them, more students standing before them in the hallway with their empty expressions. Claire recognizes a few of them from her brief stay with Van and the others within GMAGY, as does Frieda as these are her friends. Iselia, Damien, and Harrow are among the zombie like lumbering of the dead eyed students who advance toward them. Claire grits her teeth and unbecoming of an angel curses herself for being fooled by something that should have been obvious. Butcher is goading them to kill each other for his entertainment, and she had walked right into the title attraction. Although it's justifiable self defense, could they say they beat Butcher if they had to play his game to do so? To sacrifice lives for a greater good? Often those words are the ones the winners use to comfort themselves when they couldn't find a means to win against the vanquished without taking and losing lives, but in this situation it just cannot do to think that way. All or nothing. The angels and sentients had started this fight, and having people die because of them is unacceptable. So then what will she do?

 

What can she do?

 

Meanwhile in the capital, Van explains what he figures Butcher's plan is. Going to Greyashe would be the knee jerk reaction that he's hoping for, as he intends on splitting their forces as much as possible and weakening them to a point where they will remain ineffective to him. Honestly with all the resources the mad man has on his side, there's no way to get out of this without many sacrifices....unless they act quickly. There is another place like Greyashe out there, and it wouldn't surprise the farseeing boy if Butcher already has a group heading out there. For now at least that area would have to fend for itself. Azha and the group gathered abhor the idea, but they know well that what Van is saying is true. Most of all his mother, Anna Rose is most shocked at her son's behavior and words.

 

Van continues; Greyashe should also not be their highest priority as well, rather they should take the fight straight to Butcher. He asks Azha if she knows where he is? Azha nods and replies that she had an acquaintance of his --Libby spy on Shrewlund. The king there had disappeared, and rumor had it that Butcher had taken his place. Van thanks her for the info and says that he will take a group there to fight against Butcher. He will have his strongest forces there, and right now he and his intended group are probably the only ones who can approach him without being suppressed by the accelerated recall. There's no other way around it, and the sooner he can get his group together and depart, the faster the other areas that they are ignoring for the time being can be saved.

 

Dio frowns and points out that Van is being contradictory. He says time is of the essence, but this group of his doesn't appear to be here with him which implies that they will have to wait for them to appear. How does he even know that they're coming? When they'll be here? Van smiles and replies 'faith'. Honestly he hasn't had much of that lately, but there's one thing he does have faith in and it's that they will come now that their time is here. Even at his lowest, after the death of Hydon, he always had faith in them even when he had none in himself. Through the suffering and self pity he kept just a little section of his heart open for them. So when he says they'll be here they will be. End of discussion. 

 

Azha leans on her arm and doesn't hide her perhaps inappropriate amusement. Well they did say they'd leave this to him so they can't complain about his methods. For now at least they should try to find means to lessen the damage caused by the magicians running amok. She then asks that the others come and assist her with that. As a lot of her own people are magicians, the amount of helping hands she has is quite limited. The others leave the room until Van and his mother are left alone. Van apologizes to her for not being able to spend time with her properly but --

 

Van stops when he looks into his mother's eyes and the tears slowly falling from them. As with any man, the boy's heart aches seeing his mother like this, but he knows now is not the time to get into semantics. He begins to leave when she takes his hand and begs him to stay as she has a question she's wanted to ask him for some time now. Van stays despite himself and his mother explains that while she can't see into him she can tell he's been through plenty of suffering which has frayed his mind and caused him to become cold and bitter. During their long separation not a day has gone by where she hasn't asked herself this, and now seeing him has only intensified her need to know....

 

Does he hate her? For abandoning him like she did and inadvertently causing him to live such a sorrowful life...does he hate her for it?

 

Van's eyes widen and he turns to Anna Rose who's tears stream down her face in anticipation for his answer.

 

 

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